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Cars blamed for crashes

29th August 2002, Page 10
29th August 2002
Page 10
Page 10, 29th August 2002 — Cars blamed for crashes
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

• Car drivers are mostly the cause of accidents between trucks and cars, according to a recent US study.

The American Automobile Association (MA) discovered that over half the crashes involving trucks and cars result from driver error and ignorance of the risks associated with driving near HGVs. Many crashes occurred because a manoeuvre performed by one vehicle was unanticipated by the other.

The most common problems highlighted were failure to keep in lane, failure to yield right of way, driver inattention and failure to obey signs and signals.

"People drive the same way around trucks as they do around other cars," says AM vice president of public affairs, Susan Pikrallidas. "This is good news for drivers because it tells us that if we can change the way we drive around trucks, we can signifi

cantly reduce our involvement in crashes with trucks and ultimately save lives."

Road safety campaign group Brake says similar data for crashes in the UK is very limited but adds that it is trying to educate drivers about driving safely near trucks. It is soon to publish a document on how to manoeuvre around certain types of vehicles.

"We share the roads and yet we have limited awareness of the way larger vehicles manoeuvre," says Brake chief executive Mary Williams.


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